Decline in migratory birds coming to India: Govt

New Delhi: There has been a decline in the number of migratory birds arriving in India due to habitat loss and wetland pollution, the government today informed Lok Sabha.

"...Except Nordmann`s Greenshank, all other species have been observed to be declining in Asia including in India. The decline in the number of migratory birds is mainly due to hunting, trapping in the migratory routes, habitat destruction, pollution of wetland through domestic sewage, pesticides and fertilizers," it said in a written reply.

In her reply, Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan said about 370 species of migratory birds have been reported in India.

"Of these, 175 species undertake long distance migration using the Central Asian Flyway (CAF) area, which includes central Siberia, Mangolia, the Central Asian Republics, Iran, Afghanistan, the Gulf states and Oman and the Indian sub-continent," she said.

The Minister said select scientific institutions funded by the Central and state governments, state forest departments and NGOs working for wetlands and migratory birds have been monitoring the status of these long distance migratory birds in India.

Quoting the latest `Asian Water bird census` coordinated by the `Wetlands International`, Natarajan said, "The populations of threatened migratory birds in the region are either decreasing or stable".